------ The One Beneath the Water ------
The pond breathed.
Not like water.
Like something alive.
Slow. Deep. Patient.
---
Arjun felt it in his bones before he saw it.
The pull.
Stronger now.
Not just on Rupali—
On all of them.
---
"Don't let go!" he shouted, his voice cracking.
But his hands were slipping.
Her skin—
It didn't feel right anymore.
Not warm.
Not human.
It felt… soaked.
Like something that had never truly dried.
---
Rupali's head tilted slightly.
Too slowly.
Too deliberately.
Her eyes locked onto Arjun's.
And this time—
There was no flicker of recognition.
---
Only depth.
Endless.
Dark.
---
"You shouldn't have called me back…" she whispered.
But Arjun froze.
Because he hadn't.
None of them had.
---
"Who are you?" he demanded, his voice shaking.
For a moment—
Silence.
Then—
Rupali's lips stretched wider.
Wider than they should.
Until it hurt to look at.
---
"I waited," the voice said.
Not loud.
Not soft.
But everywhere.
"I waited in the dark… in the cold… in the silence…"
The pond rippled violently.
"And she listened."
---
"No…" Arjun whispered.
Rupali's body jerked.
Her spine arched unnaturally—
As if something inside her was pulling upward.
Trying to rise.
---
Behind him, someone screamed.
"Her back—look at her back!"
---
For a split second—
Something moved beneath her skin.
A shape.
Sliding.
Crawling.
---
Arjun's grip tightened instinctively.
"Rupali! Fight it!"
---
And for the briefest moment—
Her fingers twitched.
Gripping his hand.
Hard.
Desperate.
---
"Arjun…" she gasped.
Her real voice.
Broken.
Drowning.
---
"I'm here!" he shouted.
"Hold on! Don't let it take you!"
---
But then—
Her grip changed.
From desperate—
To deliberate.
---
And slowly—
She began to pull him closer.
---
"No…" Arjun said, realization dawning.
"No, no—Rupali, stop!"
---
But she didn't stop.
Her strength—
It wasn't hers anymore.
---
The mud beneath his feet shifted.
The ground felt softer.
Unstable.
---
And then—
He saw it.
---
Beneath the water—
Not just hands anymore.
Faces.
---
Dozens of them.
Pale.
Blurred.
Pressing upward against the surface like trapped reflections.
Eyes open.
Mouths moving.
But no sound.
---
Arjun staggered backward.
"What… what is that…?"
---
"They stayed…" the voice whispered through Rupali.
"They all stayed…"
---
The water surged.
And suddenly—
A face broke through the surface.
---
Not fully.
Just enough.
---
A woman.
Her skin pale as death.
Her hair floating endlessly around her like black threads in the water.
And her eyes—
Locked onto Rupali.
---
No.
Not Rupali.
Through Rupali.
---
"She came to me," the woman said.
"And she listened."
---
Rupali's body went still.
Completely still.
Like a puppet with its strings pulled tight.
---
"She heard my story…" the voice continued.
"She felt my pain…"
The water trembled.
"And she answered."
---
Arjun shook his head violently.
"No! She didn't! She didn't know—"
---
"Silence."
---
The word hit him like a force.
His breath caught.
His body froze.
---
And for the first time—
Fear truly took hold.
---
The woman beneath the water smiled.
A slow, broken smile.
---
"Do you know what it feels like…" she whispered,
"…to be left behind?"
---
The pond darkened.
The surface no longer reflected the sky.
Only shadows.
---
"To wait… and wait… and wait…"
Her voice cracked.
Not with weakness—
With rage.
---
"For footsteps that never come back."
---
The ground around the pond trembled.
Cracks forming in the wet earth.
---
"They promised," she said softly.
"They all promised."
---
Rupali's lips moved.
But her voice—
It wasn't hers.
---
"They said they would return for me."
---
Arjun's heart pounded.
"Who… are you?" he whispered.
---
The woman's eyes widened.
And for a moment—
There was something human there.
Something broken.
---
"I was a bride," she said.
---
The wind stopped.
The trees went silent.
---
"I waited at this water… dressed in red… with flowers in my hair…"
Her voice trembled.
"They said he would come."
---
The faces beneath the water stirred.
Restless.
Watching.
---
"But he didn't."
---
The water darkened further.
---
"And when I stepped in…"
Her smile widened again.
Twisted.
---
"…they followed."
---
Suddenly—
The hands shot upward.
Grabbing.
Clawing.
---
The group screamed, stumbling back.
But Arjun—
He couldn't move.
---
Rupali's grip tightened.
Painfully.
---
"She came to me…" the Bride whispered again.
"And she opened the door."
---
"No!" Arjun shouted.
"You're lying!"
---
But deep inside—
He knew.
---
Rupali had been listening.
To something.
To someone.
---
"You called her…" he said softly.
---
Rupali's head tilted.
---
"I answered," the Bride corrected.
---
The water surged violently.
Waves forming without wind.
---
"She wanted to know…"
The voice grew softer.
Almost gentle.
---
"What it feels like… to never be left behind."
---
Rupali's eyes filled with something.
Not darkness.
Not emptiness.
---
Loneliness.
---
And that was worse.
---
Arjun's voice broke.
"Rupali… please…"
---
For a second—
Her expression flickered.
---
And then—
She screamed.
---
A raw, tearing sound.
---
Her body convulsed violently.
As if something inside her was being forced out—
Or forced deeper.
---
The Bride's face twisted.
Anger flashing across her features.
---
"She is mine!"
---
The water exploded upward.
---
Hands burst from the surface.
Dozens of them.
Reaching.
Grabbing.
---
They caught Rupali's legs.
Her arms.
Her clothes.
---
"NO!" Arjun screamed, pulling with everything he had.
---
The others rushed forward again.
Grabbing him.
Holding him.
Pulling back.
---
It became a battle.
Not between strength—
But between worlds.
---
"Let her go!" someone cried.
---
But the hands didn't listen.
---
"They belong to me!" the Bride shrieked.
---
The pond roared.
---
Rupali's body lifted slightly—
Suspended between them.
---
Half in their world.
Half in hers.
---
"Arjun…" she whispered again.
So soft.
So fragile.
---
"Don't let me go…"
---
His grip tightened.
Tears streaming down his face.
---
"I won't," he said.
"I swear, I won't!"
---
But the pull—
It was too strong.
---
The mud beneath him gave way.
His knees slammed into the ground.
---
And slowly—
Inch by inch—
They were losing her.
---
The Bride smiled again.
Calm now.
Certain.
---
"Everyone comes back to the water…"
---
The hands pulled harder.
---
And then—
Something changed.
---
Rupali's eyes widened.
---
Not with fear.
---
With realization.
---
"No…" she whispered.
---
Her gaze shifted.
Not at Arjun.
Not at the water.
---
But at something deeper.
Something only she could see.
---
And suddenly—
She screamed again.
---
"YOU WERE NEVER ALONE!"
---
The pond fell silent.
---
For the first time—
The Bride froze.
---
The hands stopped moving.
---
Even the water—
Stopped breathing.
---
And in that terrible, impossible silence—
Something else stirred.
---
From deeper below.
---
Something older.
---
Something that had been waiting—
Even longer.
---
The surface of the pond cracked—
Not like water.
Like glass.
---
And a new voice whispered—
Far deeper.
Far colder.
---
"…you should not have woken me."
---
Everything went still.
---
Even the Bride.
---
Even the darkness.
---
And Arjun realized—
With absolute terror—
---
This was never just her story.
---
This was something far worse.
---
Next (Part 5) can go even bigger:
The ancient entity beneath the Bride revealed
The truth of why the pond is cursed
To be Continued....